


Drawn To Life

by IronGut



Series: Iron Ingots [3]
Category: Original Work, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Genre: Cartoon Characters, Multi, Origin Story, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2020-03-20 16:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18996634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronGut/pseuds/IronGut
Summary: Cartoons! They're more than just ink you know! Some of them, might just very well be alive... But then that begs the question, where are they? What about the villains? And what happens when one of them decides to change everything?...Hello everyone! Thank you for checking out my 4th book! It has been a little while since my last one, but that's what happens when you become a first time home-owner, that kinda takes over your life for a while XD. Anyways, this is a side story to go along with Patches of Gray, in the same canon, all about the events that lead up to the formation of the, well, I won't spoil anything for you. That said, you don't need to have read Patches of Gray in order for this book to make sense, and vice-versa. So enjoy the story! And if you like what you read here, give Patches of Gray a read through as well! I think you'd definitely enjoy it! And on to the story!   https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/IronGut





	1. On The Loose

 

" _ Unit 1-09 be advised, we have reports of an unregistered macro in the vicinity of Battery Park, subject is reported to be an orange dinosaur with three stripes on it's back.  Witnesses report the subject as inquiring about the Museum of Natural History... _ ". " _ Copy dispatch. _ ". The police blotter called out into the mostly empty office where a thick rhinoceros sat in his chair, calculating estimates of labor and time on his notepad before his ears perked up at what he heard.

 

"Wait a sec...". The deep voice of the rhino let out as he hunched forwards in his seat from his previously reclining position.  He reached forward and turned the dial of the old analog radio to increase the volume as he listened intently, quickly pulling a binder from the shelf and scanning through it.  "Natural history... natural history....". He muttered to himself as he quickly flipped through pages, stopping finally on one as his eyes shot open. "... REX!...". He yelled out as he jumped from his seat.  "BEN! WE GOT ONE!". He exclaimed out as he stuck his fist into the air sharply, his thumb protruding out away from him, and within the blink of an eye a bright yellow taxi zoomed in before him, screeching to a halt at his feet, right in the middle of the studio.  "Ey Frankie! You call a cab? What we got?!". The cab car exclaimed as it turned it's headlights and bumper towards the tall, thick rhino, them all making a face that those who followed Disney would find very familiar. "Rex! From We're Back! He's in the city, let's go get him!" Frank summed up, to which the cab yelled back as he turned to face the nearby big screen TV, and his tires screeched as he full speed floored it for the screen.  "Alright then! Hang onnn!". he yelled as he dove into the screen, disappearing through it like it were a stage curtain with his rhinoceros passenger.

 

* * *

"Excuse me down there!  Do you know where the museum of Natural History is?". The big dino bent down to ask an old lady fox, her shrieking in reply as she smacked him on the nose with her purse in fear, which sent him flying high into the air, before beginning to fall towards earth again, right above a group of kids playing on the nearby sidewalk.  It was just as they looked up to see their impending orange doom that out of nowhere a taxi cab launched high into the air and bounced into the dino, knocking him away to land in the open street where the cab managed to land too. The huge thud from the combined landing of the dino and car bounced everyone into the air like a small earthquake.

 

"Oooooh, owwww... gosh that wasn't very nice!  Or ladylike...". The dino rubbed his nose as he spoke and sat on his butt, blissfully ignorant as the door to the cab swung open in front of him, and from inside the rhino shouted.  "HEY! Big guy! I know where the museum is!". The dino took notice and replied slowly "The museum of natura-". "Yeah yeah the museum of natural history! Come on and follow me, quick!  We gotta get you out of sight before anyone else sees us!". Frank yelled back out with urgency, cutting off the Dino's slow and smooth talking to try and rush him. "Well nobody knows me tho-" "Just shut up and follow us ya big dummy!". Frank cut him off again, slamming the door shut as Rex got up to his big feet, and suddenly the cab was taking off, and the dino struggled to chase after it.

 

A few blocks passed and a few turns later, Frank and Benny saw a good enough spot to pause for a moment, and turned fast into a deserted alleyway juuuust big enough for the dino to fit into, and he parked and got out of the cab.  The dino began, "This isn't the museu-". "I know it's not.". Frank cut him off again, the dino not seeming to understand the need to hurry up yet as he still spoke calm and slow, where the rhino was doing his best to relay information fast while thinking what to do next.  "I had to stop here for a bit to talk to you. Listen, you're not who you think you are, well, OK you  _ ARE _ but you don't know  _ WHAT _ you are yet, and we gotta get you hidden before too many people see you.". Rex scratched his head with a claw digit as he replied, "But... I'm a dinosaur...  right? How can I not be?". Frank replied again with a bit of frustration, "Ughhhh... look, I'll explain that later Rex, right now we gotta figure out a fast way to get you to the stu-, I mean to the museum.  The sewer maybe? Oh wait, but you can't swim... AH! THE SUBWAY!". He burst out.

 

"The subway?  But won't I not fi-, wait... how do you know I can't swim?  And how did you know my name without my medal on?...". Rex replied in a tone of confusion.  "Sorry Rex, I promise I'll explain everything soon, we gotta get to the subway first! Follow me!  The next entrance is 2 blocks down!'. The rhino replied as he dashed under Rex's legs, the already confused dino suddenly even more confused when the cab door suddenly shut itself and the cab drove out of the alley all on it's own!   He managed to get a hold of himself enough to back out of the alley and watch the rhinoceros waving for him to follow again towards the subway entrance. The big dino quickly made it over there with just a few stomps, and poked his head down the entrance as Frank waited and watched for onlookers.  Rex, seeing that it was empty, squeezed himself through the stairwell as best he could while Frank shoved his big ass down from behind, managing to pop him in after just a moment. Crouching down on the thankfully deserted platform in the less crowded part of uptown Manhattan, Rex and the rhino waited, and soon enough a train pulled into the station.

 

"Alright, squeeze in Rex!  Come on!". Frank waved him in after jumping in himself, the dino, who barely fit in the station, had a bead of sweat drip down as he chuckled nervously then bent down even more and tried to shove himself inside through the tiny train door.  It was to no avail this time though, the doors were simply too small for a full sized dinosaur like himself.

 

"HRRRRGGHHH!". He gritted his teeth and grunted right in the rhino's face, his arms inside struggling to pull his fat ass through before Frank grabbed hold of him and tugged back in a fit of grunting before finally calling for reinforcements with a thumb in the air.  Suddenly Rex felt someone or something shoving against his backside hard, screeching tire sounds accompanying the forceful push. "RGHHH I- I think I'm just too biggg!". Rex blurted through squeezed shut eyes and a grimace of effort. "RRGHHH, OK, Rex, I know this isn't gonna make sense to you, but just trust me.  Imagine yourself shrinking down in size, visualize it in your head and don't open your eyes!". Frank instructed, and Rex tilted his head in confusion as he replied "But why would tha-" "Just do it!". Frank tugged hard on the Dino's head as he watched Rex close his eyes and imagine, and then suddenly POP! In he went, the doors sealing shut behind the smaller-than-before dino and off the train went.

 

"How… how did that work?". Rex asked, puzzled.   A new voice suddenly came in from the seat beside him, "Cause whatever you imagine becomes real!". The Brooklyn accented and raspy high pitched voice of the cab came in, and Rex turned his head to see the semi-anthropomorphic taxi cab sitting in the seat.  "Hiya! I'm Benny, and I'm like you!". "What does he mean, like me?". Rex asked dumbfoundedly.

 


	2. Exotic Nature

"Rex...". Frank began, the trio in the last car of the train and thus well and alone there.  "You're a dinosaur, yes. But you're a special kind of dinosaur. You're a cartoon, Rex. A cartoon is something that people here in the real world watch on TV that someone else has imagined and drawn on paper in a way that makes them seem to move.  Sometimes people from these cartoons though can come to life, like you did. Am I making sense?". A long pause followed. "Nnnnnnnope...". Rex shook his head, and Frank's face-palm smack could be heard probably on the other end of the train.

 

"Well..." Frank started again "A cartoon character like you, has an original show, or movie in your case, and you came from it.  Your body isn't like normal bodies, you aren't as subject to the laws of physics as the rest of us. When I told you to imagine yourself smaller, you actually GOT smaller.  Here, let me show you...". He reached out his hand and took the Dino's claw, and with his other hand he pulled a pencil from his pocket. Uncapping it's safely covered end, he pressed it's eraser end to the first claw digit, and erased it from existence.  He held the dinos claw tight to keep him from panicking, well, as best as that could be done anyways “AHH!! WHAT?! MY CLAW! IT’S GONE! AHHHH!!!!!!!” the dino cried out as his legs panickingly kicked all on their own, accidentally knocking the cab into the pole on the far end of the train car.  Frank luckily had a good strong grip, and managed to hold tight to the dino’s arm as he cut him off “HEY! LOOK AT ME REX! It’s ok! Calm down, Watch.” he directed their gazes back to his partially amputated claw, then, quickly flipping the pencil over in his free hand to it's drawing end, and drawing the outline of the claw he’d erased back onto the toon.  Rex watched in disbelief as the color from his whole parts bled into the outline, filling it up to be whole again, after which the dino spent the next minute or so flipping his claw over in front of his face, checking it back and front, curling and uncurling his claws to see if they still worked, which of course they did.

 

He finally spoke again after a big sigh of relief and a slumping down, "And... you can do that too, but you can’t?" He looked to the cab, then to Frank, to which Frank responded by trying to erase his own fingers in front of the dino, and then Benny, having driven himself back over from the far end, lifted up a fender for Frank to erase and redraw.  "Yup, he can, and nope I can’t." Frank quickly confirmed. "I'm... different?" Rex pondered aloud, the rhino replying simply, "Yep.". And another long pause. "YAY!!! IM SPECIAL!" Was followed by the dinotoon stomping happily his big thunderous legs, shaking the train and damn near derailing it, much to Ben's amusement, who calmed him down with a wheel on his shoulder.  "Heheh, yah you are! Now calm down before ya throw us off the tracks!". "Oh, right! Sorry ^^;". Rex chuckled and stopped stomping.

 

Frank began talking to the dino about what toons could do and such, though it wasn’t quite getting through to Rex at the moment.  Talk about newly drawn on ink being able to be washed off, while your natural ink remains intact, unless it’s rased by erasers, seemed to just go over his head every time either of the two tried to explain it.  Getting the message about “biology” sent to the dino went equally as fruitful, which was to say not at all. He did understand the part about getting new things drawn on him though, that part was easy cause, well, they could just do it and show him!  First with a third claw, then a set of muscular, longer arms, which the toon immediately used to scratch a forever itchy spot on his big back, letting out a big sigh of relief at finally being able to have reached it. A few more experiments followed, not too many though as Frank cut him off to get to the most important part.

 

"Alright good.  Heh. So there's a thing about toons, they, kinda have to stay a secret I'm afraid...". Frank began, a bit dismayed, Rex replying as they passed through another station "Why?..." to which Frank gestured to the cartoon cab "Show him why Ben.". The cab nodded and stood up on his wheels, and then suddenly spun in a 360, and when he stopped again, he was in full Rambo gear, guns all over himself, knives, explosives, and all sorts of deadly weapons that could have annihilated an army at will.  Rex stammered backwards suddenly in shock and intimidation, Frank quickly holding him from being too afraid with a pat on his thigh, before turning his attention back to Ben. Frank got up and pulled out a pocketknife from his pocket, and in a motion tried to stab the Rambo toon, the knife simply bouncing off however, leaving him without even the slightest scratch. The rhino put it back away and nodded for Ben to change back to normal, the cab quickly shoving all the gear out of sight behind him back into the nothingness it’d come from. "That's why Rex...  Unfortunately, while it's a miracle and wonderful you guys can exist, you guys are also invincible unstoppable death machines if you wanted to be, except for your one kryptonite being drawing supplies.". He sighed out in dismay, wishing somehow the toons could be free to roam in the open and be who they were meant to be. “B-but I don't wanna hurt anyone.” Rex blinked before hearing Frank sigh again. “Sadly Rex it's not about that, I know you wanna just make people happy, but if the wrong person figured out how to trick you guys or worse figure out how you guys work, that's the end I'm afraid.” He continued on after a moment, "So the toons and the animators and studios have an arrangement where you guys stay secret, and stay at either your animators homes, or the animation studios, that way no REAL bad guys even know you are here.".  “..I don’t have any other options?” Rex asked simply as they sped through another station, only a few stops away now from their destination. "Don't worry though Rex! The studios are really like resorts for you guys, trust me! You're gonna be fine.". Frank reassured with a gentle palm rub over the Dino's big nose. "I, hope so...". He muttered, as the train pulled into the stop just before the studio's nearby station.


	3. Backstage Tour

"OK Rex, seein as how it took ya lots of work to squeeze into the train, how's about ya squeeze into me so I can then drives ya in through all those normal size doors?"  Ben suggested as he kicked open his trunk and out from it popped his "shell", the disguise body he uses to go outside without looking conspicuous, Rex recognizing it from when Ben wore it before back in the streets and the alley.

 

"O-... OK". Rex replied, still unsure about fitting but, seeing his own claw erased had put him in the right mindset, as Frank had helped a few toons before he knew just what to say to try and help them understand.  The dino squatted down and pressed his big head into the open door, squishing against Ben inside his shell "OOO! Watch it! Think small Rex!". He instructed with his face pressed against the inside of his shell, while the dinosaur filled every square inch of the car up, and his fat thighs weren't even inside yet.  He concentrated for a moment, thinking small, and squishy, before he grunted and squeeeeezed forwards while from behind he felt Frank shove his squishy toon ass inside, and after the rubber band sound effect of the squish rang out, the sound of the car door shutting was next, as Ben got himself situated on his wheels.  The shell bulged with the Dino's size pressing against it like the air in a balloon, but it held, and as the doors to the train opened when it pulled into the station, out the cab drove and right back up into the outside world, Frank running after it close behind.

 

A minute or two of driving later, and there it stood, the glass entrance doors to Aardvark Studios. Rex watched through the windshield as Ben drove in and slipped past the reception desk and past the animators work pit, off to a well secluded double door labeled "Owners Office". Without the slightest sound to draw attention Frank unlocked it and they hurried through into the nondescript solo office.  "I, don't think there's enough room for me to hide here.." Rex let out, to which Ben replied, "Yes there is." With a smirk, and clicked the hidden wall panel with his wheel behind the desk, and the wall opened wide, revealing the massive open space beyond.

 

Looking through the car window as he was driven in, Rex stared in awe.  The secret space was huge! Like a warehouse almost, definitely as big or big enough to house everything the toons needed.  Sleeping rooms, dining areas, drawing supplies all over the place, a corner FULL of television screens and couches lined up like a theater, and everywhere, TOONS!  Toons living and moving around and being themselves in the wide open space. It was incredible to see! From small time characters to a few big name stars, all living together right here!

 

Rex yelled out when Ben suddenly opened his door and tumbled the big dinosaur out, the still mostly oblivious dino ending up on his butt in the middle of the open space after a rollover or two.  Shaking it off though, he saw the other toons notice him, and suddenly he was swarmed by them all. Thumper, Ursula, Grumpy, Huckleberry Hound, Godzooki, Kaa the snake, and too many others to name all coming up and shaking the new toon’s claw and welcoming him to the real world, while he did the best he could to keep up with them and stay polite, even if he didn't know who any of them at all were.  Eventually though the toons had had their greeting time and Frank chuckled as he came back up to Rex and sat him down at one of the tables. "Who were all those guys?...". Rex inquired, to which the rhino replied, "Those are your kin Rex, those are other conscious toons, you’ll see all their original shows on the tapes eventually, hehe. Now, let me see if I can explain better than I did before...". He started as Ben went and drove over to the kitchen area, bringing back drinks for the three of them. After about 30 minutes of explaining what cartoons were, what TV was, and what Rex was, Frank was finally managing to get the dino to understand what he was.  Ben then helped show the dino some of the basics while Frank went off to check and do a few other things, like his ability to use hammer space, ductility, and all the other wonderful traits toons had.

 

Rex finally reached down to grasp the cup brought over to him, looking into it and blinking in shock when he saw the pitch black liquid swirling inside, shining like the hood of a newly cleaned car.  "Whhhat's this?". He turned his head over to the taxi sitting beside him, pointing a claw into his cup. "INK!". Ben replied as he took a swig of his own, "It's what you're made of and pretty much the only food we need to have ever." Rex leaned his head down and sniffed the cup, indeed it smelled, alluring, familiar almost, he tilted the cup to his lips and let the smooth heavy liquid slip down his throat.  "MMMMM! Ohhh WOW is that good!". He let out as Frank and Ben chuckled. "Kinda like a slippery ice cream mixed with a tasty tea, eh?" Ben interjected, to which Ralph exclaimed "Yeah! That describes it pretty good. So, this stuff goes to making our outlines stronger?". Rex responded to Ben's statement, to which Ben replied again a simple "Yep!"

 

"OK." Frank set his NORMAL drink down and sat back in his chair across from the huge dinosaur.  "So now that ya get what you are, and what you can do, and how you're different from other toons l thep TV, there are a few sorta rules that need to be gone over I'm afraid." He spoke with an odd tone, certainly there was a lot of seriousness in his tone, but also some regret or remorse, something like that, a sort of apathy for what he was about to say to Rex.  The dino may have been innocent still, but he was even able to pick up on it. "I told you before how you guys need to stay secret I'm afraid. So that means that you have to stay either here, or in your animators house... This place has all the comforts you could need, and at night after closing the whole facility is yours to use so long as it's clean by opening, not all the animators know about you guys.". Rex listened intently to the rhino's sighing words, spitting them out as if they were coming from a ticker tape, no enthusiasm behind them at all.  As he listened he could sworn from a nearby table he could hear the octopus lady mutter out "...still a prison though..." under her breath in response to the description of how they can roam at night here in the studio. He ignored that though as he took another swig of ink. "So, no going outside at all then?" "I'm afraid not Rex. Your kind has to stay a secret, and, well, it's tough enough to make sure you guys don't get caught when you first wake up, much less having to keep track of you always... I'll admit, I wish it didn't have to be this way, but, it kinda has to be that way...". Frank replied somberly, taking pity on the dino that, to be blunt, he was a fan of as well, and having to deliver the bad news like that ate him up.  Though there was more bad news to get to...

 

"You said we could stay at our animators house too if we wanted". Rex began, and he grew worried when he saw the rhino wince slightly, "Who is my animator?...". There it was, the question Frank knew was coming.  He took a sigh and started his reply. "Your animator, Rex.... her name was Stormwind Vale. She was an Asian blue dragon, 58 years old, and very carefree. I'm sorry Rex, but she died of a disease about three years ago..." Frank said somberly, his head down as he gave a sigh, Rex reaching over across the table to put his hands on Frank's.  "It's OK...". He replied calmly, his composure well intact still, it was more disheartening than it was grief he felt, after all, he was just "born" today. He never had the chance to know her at all, and while he wished he could, there was nothing to be sad over really. "I know Rex," Frank took a breath to calm himself some, "she was a friend of mine, we chatted a few times a month over the phone, and would hang out together when we were in each others area.  I'll bring in a picture or two of her tomorrow when I come back. She would have loved to see you, you were always her favorite, which, is why you woke up after all.". He felt Rex pull his claw back and sit back into his big chair as the rhino took another gulp of his drink and he let himself relax as well, awaiting the next round of questions from the dino as the other toons in the room went about their toony business, Rex watching a few of them and chuckling at some of the antics as Ben finally made his presence known again.

 

"So how did you hit yourself on the head then?". He asked in curiosity of the dino, remembering the world of his original movie, and where it ended, it seemed odd he'd ever get hit in the head at the museum.  Though that also kind of did explain why he only just woke up instead of right after the movie came out while StormWind was still alive, it only just now happened that Rex got the necessary bonk to the head toons need to wake up.  "I, I can't remember all the details actually, it's... like coming back from a dream. I know I was reaching out to, I think shake hands with a kid? And I lost my balance and fell forwards off the platform where our display was, landed upside down on my head, then I rolled forwards and onto my butt, and I wasn't in the museum anymore.". He explained, scratching his head as he tried to figure out how he got from the museum to where he ended up.  Ben postulated the answer, "I betcha when ya rolled forwards, ya rolled through a portal to the real world, did it feel like ya went through a curtain or something when ya rolled?" The car asked. "Ya, I... I think I did feel something like a curtain...". Rex replied with a nod of his head before Frank chimed in. "That must've been it then. The portals between toon world and the real world are everywhere there, you just don't ever notice them until you wake up, nor can you interact with them before then either."

 

It was then that Ben busted into the conversation again. "There is something you kinda gotta work out sometime by the way.  Ya don't gotta do it right now, but, you gotta change yerself some, cause staying hidden is our number one thing, so ya gotta add a disguise to yourself, maybe take a new name, just in case muggles see or hear us.  Like how I call myself Ben now instead of Benny, and I got that outer shell disguise I can put on, makes me look like a normal cab!". Ben gestured all about with his fenders as he spoke, chugging ink between sentences as he spoke to the dino, his headlights looking at him like a caring teacher, his voice dipping in and out of the Brooklyn accent he had as part of his movie.  "Yer a more famous toon, like me, so I'll show ya some of the ropes as we go. Fer now though, ya got any questions for us?". He asked, realizing he'd just talked at the dino quite a lot and rather fast too.

 

"I... it's a lot to take in again, heh.  Uhhh, I think I'm gonna sit and think about it all for a while.". Rex replied as he rubbed his neck with a claw, frank speaking up again to reply, "take all the time you need Rex.  I'll be around each day, I work here after all, speaking of, I gotta get back to work today or I'll be behind on my scene. If ya need anything just let me know.". He got himself up, giving Rex a rub on his shoulder and a pat on the big dino back, "Welcome to the real world". He smiled as he headed off while the dino nodded back and smiled, though a little uneasily, still being a bit overwhelmed at everything.  He turned his gaze back to Ben after watching Frank head back through the secret door into the animators studio areas of the place. The cab chuckled as he gave Rex a poke. "Come on, I'll show ya the movie I'm from and then we can take a nap, help ya have some time to adjust.". He suggested, Rex smiling a bit more as that sounded like a very good idea to him, and so off they went.


	4. Life at the Ink Lounge

A month or so had passed since then, and Rex had been adjusting well to life in the real world.  He’d figured out that he enjoyed disguising himself by growing a mane and wearing a set of glasses, he felt they made him look older and more distinguished, which helped make it funnier when he was being a goofball.  He’d also taken the new name of Ralph, cause he really liked the sound of it, being similar to “Rawr” was also good, and pretty much that’s all that was needed. The big dino had also made up his circle of friends as well, himself and Ben stuck together and pretty much were becoming inseparable, along with another toon named Iris, formerly one of the bad guy characters from a movie, where she was a half-octopus sea witch, who now walked along either with regular human legs or with her octopus tentacled lower half, switching between them to whatever was more convenient at a moment’s notice.  It was freaky for a while for Ralph to be talking with a human and suddenly see a tentacle reach over to another table or across the room to grab something, but he got used to her quick changing fast enough it seemed. That said, the two of them seemed to share a bit of a common mood, that it seemed like something was missing from their lives and they knew it…

 

“How are you today iris?”  Ralph asked as he stirred his big bucket sized mug of ink with a claw, reclining into the comfy big couch that had been brought in for him in the corner of the place.  “Same as every day Ralphy my boy… Just like yesterday, just like tomorrow…” She sighed as she lit up a cigarette and puffed a lungful of smoke from it. “Yeah, I know what you mean, I mean, it’s not so bad, we get everything we need here and then some.”  Ralph shrugged and replied, happy for the most part with his life so far. “Everything we need except the ability to leave. An don’t go talkin about us getting to live with our animators, cause that’s not any better now.” She ranted a bit as Ben came in and joined in the conversation, parking on the open side of the table.  “Relly Iris, this again?... *sigh*, look, you and I have been here just about the same amount of time, I know it sucks we can’t leave but we gotta or else the world-...” “Iris cut him off, “Yeah yeah yeah, the world will reject us or worse yet try to decipher us and misuse our kind, yadda yadda yadda, I know darling… You know it’d be a lot easier if the response team wasn’t just you and Frankie or the other animators who know though…  What’s it like out there anyways, you went out to visit your animator yesterday right?” She leaned forwards onto the table, propping her head up on one arm as she looked to the cab with a look of envy and jealousy. “It’s alright, you know, same sorta stuff out there as goes on in here, people going to work, feeding themselves, sleeping, same as us. The Rangers won the Stanley Cup, the Lion King is taking off like a rocket, and OJ Simpson just took the cops on the most weird police chase i ever saw.”  Ben recited the news of the weekend, which of course the toons all knew about, especially the success of the Lion King, they were honestly expecting the call that Simba or Timon had popped up in the world to come in at any time.

 

"Ohhhhh it just sounds so wonderful, much better than being cooped up here.  Benny darling, you know I can look human completely, tell Frankie to put me on the response team please...". Iris flashed her long lashes at the cab, getting him to chuckle and shake his head at her trying to be all sexy for him, still, she'd been in here all alone for a while, she deserved a chance to head out.  "Alright, I'll put in a word for ya toots, and I'll get back to ya on what he says. In the meantime, I think I hear the pool table call in my name.". He smiled as he got up and drove himself off to the other corner, Ralph and Iris alone now as the dino saw her flump down onto her elbow on the table and grumble. "Rrrrrr...  can't stand being in here much more, why we gotta listen anyways? Nothing can hurt us or catch us, we ought a be in charge out there... *sigh*". Ralph pretended not to have heard her rantings to herself, it wasn't polite to eavesdrop anyways. “Sometime I just want to concoct a portion to knock out the guard and go switch places with some pretty little Human out there and-”  “Ursula!” Ralph blerted out suddenly, cutting her off as she snapped to attention, like a child being called their full name as a warning to get their attention they were doing something wrong.

 

“O-oh dear, I'm sorry honey… thanks.”.   she sighed, coming back to her senses from those intrusive villain thoughts that constantly fought with her every minute of every day for dominance. “Ugh, it's so tough to stay Iris sometimes when they got all these mermaid posters up in the Halls… oohhh why did my movie have to be a huge hit… So much work, all the time.  Am I being a bad guy, am I being a GOOD guy, is that thought from Iris or was it Ursula, ohhh it’s sooo exhausting...”. she grumbled out before giving a sigh, then a moment later coming back “Oh! honey darling, thank you for telling me about your squeezing techniques! I was having so much trouble fitting through places with all this before!”.  she changed subjects, giving her ample breasts and hips a jiggle as she continued. “I thought I’d never be able to do any of those wackier room things, just magic, but you’re right! It’s all about visualizing it!”. she smiled back at her closest room friend as she chugged down her glass of ink, looking into the empty glass, she giggled. “heehee, say darling, with how much better you are than me, but how much bigger you are, I bet it’d be a pretty close race to see who can squeeze into one of these the fastest…”. she held up her glass with a smirk, challenging the enormous Dino, who gladly accepted with a big sway of his tail.  “You are ON!”

 

“Alright honey, annnnd, GO!”. she blurted before diving in headfirst into her glass, the Dino grabbing hold of his own and sticking his big feet and tail in first as he laid on his back in his big booth seat.  this quickly caught a lot of the rest of the lounges attention, which erupted in a flurry of quick bets and cheers for either the Dino or the octopus.

 

The muffled grunts from the wriggling glass on the table rang almost as loud as the open air groans of the Dino, struggling to yank the glass up over his fat butt like a pair of skinny jeans, only skinnier.  Iris’s glass wobbled and shook this way and that but refused to tip as she pumped her whole body further and further in, the rolls of fat somehow disappearing past the lip as her tentacles waved every which way, she was well in the lead but getting cocky as she saw the Dino struggling through the clear wall of her container.  she got up on her tentacles and stood for the crowd that was watching them, blowing a kiss from inside and striking a pose. Ralph took a deep breath and used the moment she’d given him to concentrate better. ~a tennis ball, a flea, an ATOM!~. Ralph thought to himself, visualizing his fat butt shrinking down, and suddenly, shoomph!  Right in up to his neck he slipped, and it was just then Iris was turning to see the dinosaur's progress, and panic. she doubled her efforts and sucked in her tentacles as fast as she could, but it wasn't fast enough as the Dino’s straining, gritted teeth and tightly clenched shut eyes suddenly vanished into the glass as well, the glass tumbling down into the booth seat and coming to rest in one of it’s creases, just a second before Iris’s own glass fell onto it’s side the table, completely filled with all of the sea witch, to the cheers of half the audience, the other half having lost their bets.

 

Ralph’s glass rumbled a bit as the Dino struggled to keep all 16 feet of himself so small, before it finally shattered as the Dino sprang back to full size, sprawled out on the booth seat as the crowd laughed, Iris managing to slip out of her glass without breaking it, though huffing and panting as she giggled herself at the Dino’s now upside down seating position.  “hehe, two out of three honey?” she bargained with a smirk.

 


	5. A Good Word

Ralph groggily thudded his way down the corridor from the sleeping bunks towards the ink lounge, the light of the early morning just coming through the skylights.  as he focused his eyes he saw another figure waiting against the wall, and after a moment he recognized it from the tentacles Idly flipping back and forth along the ground that it was Iris.  “Morning!” the Dino greeted with a yawn “Whatcha doing out here?” he questioned.

 

“OH!  Good morning darling…  I’m just… waiting for my appointment with the studio heads.  Frank told me yesterday they were gonna hear me out about wanting to go out on recoveries.” she briefly explained, her mind clearly not all focused on conversing with her friend, as she was trying to think of what she was going to say inside the nearby office in just a few minutes.  “There's so much I wanna say to them but I don’t know if it’ll help or not… you know how this place is, being here in these studio walls and nowhere else, it’s, so hard sometimes to just… but if I start saying that kinda stuff they might think I'm unstable and not ok to go out there then, but I don’t know if I can convince them to put me on the team with my abilities alone and-oh I'm sorry sweety I'm rambling… oh I do hope I don't do that once I get insiiiide…”. she rambled, her tentacles twirling over themselves nervously.

 

“Hehehe, Iris, IRIS calm down!” Ralph chuckled.  “deep breaths, deep breaths…”. he instructed her to do as he squatted down to put a claw on her shoulder.  “Just tell the truth about why you want to go, all of it. I mean, leave out all the emotion, but explain how you are feeling, don’t show it.  Does that make sense?”. he asked, a bit unsure of his own advice, but she nodded and replied with a bit of a smile as she took another steadying breath, “I got what you mean honey, don’t get all ranty or emotional, but tell them it is affecting me being cooped up here..  ok. thanks darling.”. she leaned in and gave the Dino a hug before squidding of towards her appointment.

 

The Dino continued his morning walk to the lounge, while Iris turned and continued her way down the appropriate corridor to the studio offices.  she checked the time on the wall clock as she arrived at the door, and it being 9am, she gave the door a few loud knocks. “Room’s clear, come on in.” boomed one of the loud voices from inside.  she took a moment again to steady herself and with another breath she pushed the door open and headed inside. The room was simple enough, a few shelving cases lining the walls with records and binders full of drawings, and a big desk in the middle with a few chairs surrounding one side, and one open chair on her side of the desk.  Filling the chairs on the other side were the studio heads, a group of four folks from the different studio's in this corner of the US, who handled the decisions about how the real world was handled when it came to the toons. Iris slid into the open seat and parked in it as she took a deep breath to ready herself.

 

“So,” one of the heads began, “You’re making a request to join the recovery team then?”  he outlined very plainly, to which Iris was equally plain in her response, “Yes I am sir.”  another of the heads continued, “Ok, so we know you have experience being in a human form from your origin film, what else do you think makes you suited to be on the team?”

 

The next ten minutes were filled with dry back and forths about Iris’s skills, abilities, history, and talk of a few new tricks she’d figured out the heads didn’t know about since the time she'd woken up from her original film.  It was going pretty well, and the octo was managing to get through it all without seeming too flustered. Then came the last question she knew was probably coming but didn’t really want to answer. “Alright, so, to finish up, why do you want to be on the team?  It’s a dangerous and risky position, we need to make certain that when a team goes out, they aren’t going to lead to any accidental exposure. From either the toon being recovered, OR the ones doing the recovery. So, why do you want to do this?”

 

Iris paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts as best she could, knowing this was the question on which everything hinged.  She still hadn’t fully decided how to answer, whether to be as blunt and truthful as possible, or to play the politics game and answer with the best bullcrap she could think of.  Of course, leaving it to the last minute like this though kind of took the “bullshit your way through it” option off the table, so she began the only way she could think to. “I, i am just really tired of being cooped up in here darlings, I want to SEE things outside, if only for a moment in the background.  I’ve never seen the ocean yet and i’ve been dreaming about it ever since I got here and found out the only water I’d ever known wasn’t even real. I know that sounds selfish darlings but I promise, nothing is going to get in the way of picking up those poor souls who we need to catch before the real world does.  You know How dedicated my character was to her mission, and I’m just as committed to the mission too.” She finished her speech, having started truthfully, though slipping into promises that were made for reasons of convincing them more than they were intending to be kept towards the end. Still, she'd answered the question and let out a big sigh as she slumped back a bit into the backrest, somewhat worried she might have just destroyed her chances, another part of her anxious that she might have just secured them.

 

“Alright Iris, thank you, if you’d step outside for a moment so we can talk among each other, we’ll get back to you in just a few moments.”  Iris nodded and got up onto her tentacles and slipped back out the door, once again finding herself waiting in the hall. Before too long Frank passed by her on the way into the meeting room, giving her a nod as he passed by, she of course barely noticed, lost in thought, replaying what she had said in her head, double thinking everything, including a few intrusive thoughts from her dark sea witch side.

 

~Why not just sneak out and run away?  You can make it out of here! And besides, you have 8 arms!  Even if they manage to erase a few, there's no way they'd immobilize you fully before you could  _ take them all out _ …~ She suddenly snapped back to focus as she realized what she was thinking, “NO!  No, bad!  _ Bad ideas _ !  Iris, not Ursula!   _ Iris, not Ursula! _ ”  She changed to herself as she pounded her head lightly with her fist, giving an exasperated sigh, until being interrupted a few minutes later by Frank re-emerged from the room.

 

“OK!  So I’d like to go over the rules and setup a training shift as soon as possible for you.”  the Rhino bluntly began as if mid conversation, taking the octo by shock, “w-wait honey, you mean I’m on the team?!’  she blinked in disbelief, staring blankly at Frank until he nodded and waved for her to follow him back to another room where he could show her the ropes and the rules as she beamed and her tentacles wiggled excitedly.


	6. Everything She Ever Wanted?

" _ BENNY!  IRIS! WE GOT ONE!  LET'S GO! _ "  Franks voice boomed into the studio's toon room, startling a few of them.  It'd been a good few months since Ralph showed up, so a new living toon was due to pop up soon, they just weren't expecting it to be another in the New York/New Jersey area.  The cab and octopus sprung up and spun into their disguises, Iris quickly transforming herself human and Ben donning his shell as Iris got into the cab, a grin on her face as she gave her sweetie Ralph a hug from out the window and bop on the nose before Ben raced out the back to pick up Frank.

 

Ralph watched as they sped off out the lone window, a bit envious of them being able to go and help the other toons coming in, but for the moment something about Iris’s smirk was bugging him.  I mean sure it was absolutely joyous, but also at the same time, he was worried she was, too excited? He quickly chuckled and tossed the thought aside, after all he’d be just as excited to get out of here too, even if only for a few minutes.  

 

Back on the road, Frank was quickly filling the team in on details while Benny sped down the road carrying them through late evening, the sun having mostly set already.  “Ok guys, you know the animal movie that just came out with Billy Joel playing a singing dog? Yeah, that dog is what we’re here to find. The police blotter said there was a dog leaping from car roof to car roof and stealing food from food carts left and right, all while singing.  We’ve gotta lure him in here somehow, but he’s gonna be tough I suspect, the whole street smart character thing. So Iris, I'm thinking you conjure up some tasty looking t-bone steak maybe? We’ll hold it up through the sunroof when we find the cars he’s dancing on, so we can then yank him in and seal the roof shut.”  Frank planned out, indeed it sounded like a good plan, and so they followed the sirens, and soon enough they could see the newly woken toon dog jumping from car to car while police officers swiped at the air in futile attempts to grab him.

 

“OK!  Iris! Steak!  Benny, get us close!”  Frank commanded as they got right up next to the dog toon.  He quickly bounded to their roof, “Ooooh what’s this tasty lookin morsel right here?”  he sang out as he circled the sunroof, before suddenly kicking the meat away with his hind leg and continuing the verse, “A TRICK!  a TRAP! But I’m SMARTER than THAT! WhooOOAAAa-OHH” He gloated and ran off to the next car, leaving Frank nothing to do but facepalm.  “I thought that mighta been too obvious to work.” Benny chimed in, to which the rhino poked his dashboard, “Well I don’t see YOU comin up with any ideas!  We’re already behind the cops, dead center of Manhattan’s east side, and-” “East side you said?” Iris butted in suddenly, cutting Frank off, her mind suddenly excited cause she knew the ocean was close, but also something about where they were was niggling in her head.  “THE BOAT!” it hit her suddenly after a moment, to which Franks eyes and Benny’s headlights flashed open as well. “When he’s done singing he’s gonna head to the docks to try and deliver all that food to his gang! BENNY! THE DOCKS, AND STEP ON IT!” Frank boldly commanded, “YOU GOT IT BIG GUY!”  Benny’s tires screeched as he turned out of the traffic jam and down the street heading for the older docks by the brooklyn bridge.

 

Benny screeched to a stop as he entered the dilapidated docks, quickly scanning through them for any sign of the singing dog.  when he saw none, he listened, and sure enough he could hear him coming. “He’s comin up soon boss!” Benny called up to Frank, who began setting up Plan B.  “Ok Ben, you saw the movie, look for the most run down, abandoned boat that looks like the movie one!” “Got it chief!” “Iris! You-...” he stopped mid word when he looked and saw her gaze locked on the waters.  She was absolutely mesmerized by the river, the way the waves rippled, the darkness of the water, and everything about it. “IRIS!” Frank shouted at her, snapping her out of things. “Oh! Sorry dear, what’s my part?’  she forced herself to turn away from the water and towards Frank, the rhino keeping her attention. “You’re gonna be out in the boat helping me funnel him into Benny, got it?” he looked right into her eyes as he gave her directions.  “Got it darling!” she gave a thumbsup back to the rhino, just before Ben exclaimed “Found It!” and zoomed off with them towards a boat a few docks down, on the far edge of the marina, looking like there would be nothing in it except roaches and the occasional fly.  It was just like in the movie.

 

Iris and frank quickly lept out once they arrived inside the boat, listening and indeed hearing the audible humming from above of the street-wise mutt.  There wasn’t much hiding space in the open main room of the boat, then again all they had to do was shut the entrance flap on the roof and they should be trapped, but after before, who knows what kind of clever holes there were dodger could find to squeeze through and thus slip through their fingers.  They took no chances. As soon as Dodger jumped down, he could feel something was off, before he had the chance to turn around though a flurry of tentacles shot out to try and grab him, Iris letting a bit of the big bad Ursula out, while Frank yanked shut the roof flap. Dodger managed to, well, dodge the most of the tentacles, but then again, she wasn’t trying to catch him, just make him back up more and more until he suddenly saw in his vision he’d backed riiiight up through the taxi’s door.  “OH NO FAI-” *CHUNK* he called out before Benny slammed the door closed on him, locking to dog inside.

 

A short cheer by the two was followed by Frank quickly coming up to the now barking dog locked inside the cab scratching and pawing at the doors for freedom.  Benny rolling the window down just a crack to let the rhino begin his chat. “DODGER! Listen to me, I’m sorry we had to catch ya like this but don’t worry, we’re not gonna hurt ya!”. The mutt froze in place, tilting his head,  “H-how did you know my name?...” Dodger replied as he paused in his scrambling for a moment to listen to the Rhino begin his explanations, including suddenly noticing the car’s aliveness as well.

 

As frank spoke, Iris, now back to her normal octopus self, watched through the roof for signs of the police or onlookers, indeed they seemed to be in the clear, though she found herself again, staring at the water, the starlight and moonlight twinkling invitingly off it’s surface…

 

~Oh just a quick dipppp, nobody’s gonna know, and even if they do, what harm could come of it?...~ she thought to herself, her tentacles wriggling in anticipation of a real taste of the sea.  ~Besides! It was  _ YOUR _ idea to wait and catch him when he tried to go home!  You  _ DESERVE _ a bit of freedom!  So go on!~ she convinced herself, diving off the edge of the boat and down into the water with the slightest of splashes despite her chubby, hippy self.  Immediately she let out a glorious moan of delight and wrapped herself up in her own tentacles before spinning and shooting gleefully through the waters, it felt downright magical to be in REAL water.  She swam through and around the seafloor to her heart's content, indulging herself as though the water was a rich dark chocolate fountain.

 

She surfaced again after a full half hour to find Frank calling for her, clearly angry at her by the way he was shouting.  “Oh.. I, guess I spent a bit long in here…” She thought aloud as she climbed out to join Frank and Benny again, though she was a bit aggravated that Frank was being as stern as she knew he was about to be.  ~I did a good job here! I came up with the idea that caught Dodger in the end, and there’s no harm in what I did! I deserved to indulge!~ She thought as she climbed up, seeing inside the cab to Dodger looking out the window at them as Frank stood with folded arms and a firm stare as he opened the door and ushered her in.

 

Benny closed the door behind her as she sat beside the rhino, looking like the guilty pup ready to receive punishment, though still on the inside she was resenting that she was even about to be talked to for something as simple as swimming.  “You know you can’t just go and do that Iris, right? You gotta stay in control of yourself, stick to the mission, every minute we’re out here is a risk.” He began, to which she sighed “I know darling, I knowwww…” Frank continuing “Look, I know how tempting to be out here it must be, cooped up in the studio all day, but it’s- “ “Yeah yeah I knowwww I knowwwwwww…”  She cut him off a bit early, she’d heard it all before, giving a sarcastic eye-roll and bobble of her head, sassing the rhino somewhat, turning her gaze from Frank back towards the ocean again. Even dodger bit his lip a bit at where this was going, as Frank replied again after a moment. “Clearly not. Iris, this is SERIOUS.” “UGH, You think I don’t KNOWWW that already darling?  I’m sorry ok?... can we just go?” She bargained, trying to cut this whole thing short, which as any parent would know, only made the conversation longer.

 

“I know you know, but-”  “You know what, I’m not sorry really…”  Iris butted in again, “I can’t mean it when I say it, because even being out here I know that if I’d asked to go for a swim, you probably wouldn’t have let me.  So I took the opportunity, and I’m not sorry I did…” She paused for a moment, Frank unsure of how to reply, looking for what point to make next while Dodger sat in the back seat, trying not to pay too much attention, after all this wasn’t his squabble, and he knew getting in the middle of this wouldn’t do HIM any favors.  Iris spoke again after a few seconds, “I’m probably never gonna see the ocean again, will I?” She lamented as she longingly stared at the waters. Frank replied, “We don’t know that for sure, you’ll probably get the chance to see it again! Next time just ASK before doing.” Frank worked to reassure her now, it quite clear that was what was important to her, trying to reason with her now more than discipline.  “Oh come now darling, I know you’re trying to give me hope, but I can do the math… We’ve had two new toons in the span of a few months, and that’s a rarity… How long will it be on average that I’d be locked up there between these little missions? Months? Years? However long it takes, I doubt the next mission would even be close to the ocean where I’ll even get to see it again. That’s even assuming that I’ll even stay on the “team” in the future.”  She stared out the window, her tentacles raising up to the glass, feeling it separate her from the cool open waters. She was quickly working out the math in her head and out loud, and well, she wasn’t wrong...

 

Frank sat in silence for a bit before offering, “Better to have known love and lost than never to have loved I suppose, Benny, time to g-”  “If only that were true…” Iris butted in again, much to Frank’s annoyance now at being cut off multiple times, especially now as he tried to get Benny to drive them back before anything rash happens, “I mean suuure it’s true for the living, the, free out there…  I on the other hand am forced just to survive, to sit and wait for freedom that’s never gonna come. You know what… I can’t do it… After being out there now, I can’t give that up, I just can’t!” She finally turned back to the rhino in her seat, looking him in the eyes for the first time in the whole conversation.  “Frankie, I’m sorry, I promise nobody will find out what I am, I can keep looking human and I’d stay away from everyone!” She bargained rapidly, pleading with the rhino, “You can keep tabs on me if you want, but I can’t go back to that prison! I CAN’T.” She turned back and reached for the door handle, Benny quickly locking the door on her as Frank quickly grabbed hold of her arm to try and stop her.  “IRIS! I, can’t let you do that, just take a breath and calm down!”

 

She looked back at her grabbing hold of him, her tentacles raising up around her as she grew fiery in her next response.  “Let GO of me.” She boldly ordered, snatching her own arm away from his grasp, only to feel him try to grab and turn her around towards him again, to which she snatched up his arms in her tentacles and held him at bay, “I take allll this time, allll this effort, CONSTANTLY trying to be good, always fighting myself to do the “RIGHT THING”, and I don’t even get a CHANCE to live an actual LIFE as Iris…  Well honey, you know what then, I’m THROUGH being Iris! I won’t play your silly game anymore! Enjoy dealing with  _ URSULA _ now because I’m not gonna stop her anymore, and you can let the studio know  _ it’s all their fault _ !”  She quickly yanked the pencil from Frank’s shirt pocket with one of her tentacles as she quickly flipped it in the air to the eraser side and eyed the lock on Benny’s door.  “IRIS! WAIT A SEC! YA GOTS TO STOP!!” Benny protested but that was all he could get out before he felt the sudden friction of the rubber rub away the ink of his door lock, making his door swing wide open when the sea witch hip-bumped it, slipping out and taking a deeeeeeep breath of the salty sea air, giving a long drawn out sigh of bliss at it's taste, before releasing her grasp on the Cab and rhino and dashing back into the waters, cackling in laughter.

 

Back at the studio, Ralph took another swig of ink while he waited for Iris to return, eager to chat with her about what the outside was like, what catching a feral toon was like, and everything about her trip.  It only took a short while though before the sound of screeching tires was followed by a bursting through the doors by the cab and Frank, along with their new pickup in the form of a singing dog with sunglasses, but... no Iris.


	7. Ursula

The naive Dino was confused at first when he saw the scene, and grew worried when he saw Frank, usually a cool level headed guy, punch a hole in the nearby wall.  “GOD FUCKIN DAMNIT I SHOULDA SEEN THIS COMIN! Ok DAMMIT Frank, focus. Code Bad Guy everyone! I repeat, CODE BAD GUY! Iris has gone and turned back to Ursula!”

 

Every room knew what the code meant, it was a huge part of their “welcome to the real world” training.  It had never been called before, but somehow it always felt like it was right there under the surface, ready to happen at any moment with how tense life was as a sentient toon, having to stay so hidden from the world.  “Ralph!”. Frank shouted, “You were here friend here, we need you to try and reach her, anyone else who thinks they can stop her, pile into Benny. MERLIN, I’m sorry I know you don’t like doing it but we gotta erase some memories, get in!  Dodger, I’m sorry about this, just stay here, we’ll give you the tour later, this is a total emergency.” The dog nodded understandingly and hopped out, sitting down and watching the scene unfold, having been silent and watching since the whole thing began.

 

The Dino, wizard, rhino, and a few of the swordsmen types from Medieval set films crammed their way into the toon cab, who grunted and shoved them in with his doors to get in faster, the insides looking like a pack of sardines only worse as the cab shut his door and then bolted hard off through the doors of the studio and out onto the road, dashing back to where the octopus witch had escaped them, off the docks of New York.

 

“What happened Frank?”. Ralph asked between bumps on the highway, the cab speeding like crazy between cars under his disguised metal body.  “Ugh, I dunno! she just snapped! She snuck off while I was getting through to Dodger about what he was to have a swim, and when I started trying to get her back so we could get outta there she just started fighting with me until she dashed back off into the water again, yelling at me and fighting with me until she went and attacked us and dove off into the water laughing like, well, like Ursula when she was stealing the little mermaid’s voice...”

 

Before they had a chance to ask any more questions they had reached the docks, Benny quickly found a spot where nobody was and dumped everyone out the doors, and across the way in the river just offshore could be seen a moderately sized old style sailing boat, wooden and with big sails, looking like it was under an octopus attack as the folks on board panicked to try and fight off the invader.  “Ohhhhh man, Ursulaaaaaa, noooooo…” Frank lamented, grabbing his head in disbelief at what he was seeing her doing. The worst happened though when Ursula revealed herself, her upper body growing big and powerful right out of the water as she looked back to the shore and saw the toons. She laughed, and sped herself and the boat out towards the ocean, disappearing under the surface. Frank quickly pulled out a pencil for each toon, tossing them over and belting out the plan.  “OK, you guys pull out boats for yourselves and catch up to get close to her! Try to reason with her if you can, and if that's if that doesn’t work, try and get to her some other way…” Frank bit his lip, knowing that was pretty pie-in-the-sky of him to hope would work, but still, “And if we can’t get her back….. Just… GET HER BACK DAMNIT! NOW GO!” he belted out, and the toons got to transforming, pulling out things like scuba gear and flippers, and then speeding off towards the ocean one after another in various watercraft they each pulled from hammerspace.

 

Ralph was second out to the water, himself having spun a big set of gills onto his neck and a jet ski for himself, he raced for the direction of the open water, watching the swordfighting Fox dive from his boat into the water, followed by the human Knight, having kept his armor to sink down faster to the Sea floor.  Ralph dove in after them to try and find the octopus villain, quickly pulling out a flashlight to see better, flicking it on just in time to catch sight of the Fox get slammed by a tentacles against the Sea floor, spinning around to find the source of the tentacles. There Iris stood, well not quite Iris anymore, having grown in stature and strength in the water, even bigger than Ralph now, actually triple the big dinosaur's impressive size.  “IRIS!”. the Dino yelled to her in the water, getting no reaction whatsoever as she swing another of her tentacles and knocked the knight right back up to the surface and probably a good mile inland. “URSULA!”. Ralph roared out, that got her attention, She turned to see her good friend and flash him a grin before sliding down to her elbows in the Sea floor right in front of his face. “Well well well sweetie! My big little dinosaur’s come down to worship his Sea queen, how adooooorable hmmhmmmhmm.”.  She giggled to herself as she quickly coiled up the Dino in a tentacle and squeezed him to, immobilizing him.

 

Ralph struggled against his bounds as he grunted and tried to talk to his friend, “IIIIIRIS!  THIS! ISN’T! YOUUU!”. he cried out to her as he squirmed, watching her dispatch of the fox up out of the water the same way she did the knight before him, beginning to grow again as she turned her attention back to Ralph.  “Oohhh but it is now... and you tell me why it shouldn’t be! HMMMM? YOU TELL ME WHY I SHOULDN’T BE BACK AT THE STUDIO, TRAPPED FOREVER IN A FEW ROOMS AND HALLS, NEVER TO SEE THE OUTSIDE WORLD OR ANYTHING!”. she ballooned in size as she wanted, growing right up out of the water, carrying the dinosaur with her above water, storm clouds circling as she began to cast her spells to empower herself.  “ESPECIALLY ONE AS POWERFUL AS ME! WITH ALL MY SPELLS AND ALL MY CARTOON POWERS TOO, I SHOULDN’T BE IN CAPTIVITY! I SHOULD BE RULING THE SEA! AND THAT'S JUST WHAT I’M GOING TO DO!”. She boasted to both Ralph and the heavens as she swatted away whoever came close to her, which by now, was beginning to include inbound helicopters from the normal world, swatted down into the ocean like they were nothing but flies.

 

Ralph watched on in horror, luckily those pilots were popping up in life jackets, but this has already gone way too far, he looked at the pencil held right in his claws, and wished he didn’t have to use it, but somehow he knew he was going to have to.  He made one last plea anyways out of desperation, “IRIS! URSULA! DON’T MAKE ME DO THISSSS! PLEASE! YOU’RE MY FRIEND AND I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU!”. He called out, but at this point she wasn’t listening, she was lost as Ursula, cackling maniacally under the storm clouds, swatting at anything that opposed her, and Ralph quickly spun the pencil in his claws to it’s eraser side.  With a slash of the eraser he freed himself from her grip, erasing a slice into the tentacle that was holding him. He landed on her hip, grabbing hold of her however he could to keep his big self on her monstrous form. The dino looked about at his fellow toons all struggling, and saw something else among them, he could see that the witch was also aiming for a nearby cruise ship, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and she was reaching out one of her many tentacles towards it.  With a big leap the dino jumped up onto her back, catching hold of her neck and wiping at her head with the eraser, eliminating it from off her shoulders. Of course, this didn’t stop her though, as then her every last tentacle and arm frantically began searching for him, blindly aiming, trying to catch and squeeze the life out of the Dino while she still could. She writhed and fought, still with a hold of a few of the other toons in her tentacles, and shooting lightning bolts from her fingertips in what was definitely not random directions, managing to hit a toon or two, and thankfully just missing the cruise ship when one of the toons managed to push the ship out of the way in time, which surely wasn’t very painless to the passengers who were all suddenly slammed against the walls inside, but it was better than being vaporized/electrocuted.  It was then it was clear, she wasn’t going to stop, not at all, and unfortunately, that eraser was going to need to be used again.

 

Ralph quickly got a foothold on her belly and held onto her shoulder as he quickly worked, watching his back to block and erase whenever one of her tentacles got close to him, and as line by line disappeared, her flailings continued, more and more determined to find and stop the dino at all costs.  By the time she finally caught hold of him in her grasp though, it was too late, as she was down to just one arm and hand and not even a body attached to it. He felt her squeezing at him as hard as she could, trying to crush her former friend in her grip in a last ditch effort to not stop him, but destroy him.  The dino squeezed his eyes shut and began to well up as flashes of the good times he’d had with her former self ran through his head. “I’m so sorry Iris…” Ralph uttered as with a few more swipes of the eraser, he finished erasing away every last line of the sea witch, falling back into one of the boats the other toons was piloting, looking back now at the empty water where his former friend just was, and he began to sob uncontrollably.


	8. Never Again

A few days later, and it was Ralph’s turn to finally be “debriefed” by the studio heads.  The past few days in the ink lounge had been near silent, everyone inside in a state of stunned disbelief over what had happened, and the air was just full of uncertainty and unease about just about everything.  Nobody tried to hold any sort of silly competition or play any games, it was just, for lack of a better word, dead.

 

The dino sat in the same hallway Iris had just a short few weeks ago, still replaying it over in his head, trying to think of what else he could have done to have avoided what happened.  What could he have done differently, both in the past, and during her final few moments? Could he have tried to hypnotize her, could he have tried to manhandle her, somehow drag her back to the studio against her will… deep down though he knew none of those would have worked, that once she had turned back into Ursula, that was the end for Iris.

 

He took a deep breath and stepped his way through the big double doors, and sat down in front of the studio’s owners.  He told them what had happened, about the code BG and how they handled it, how he went and erased his friend, and how MERLIN and the rest cleaned up after everything, making sure no witness remembered anything thanks to Merlin's “spells”, and ensuring nobody had any evidence of anything having happened, which included the studio's paying for a set of helicopters for the national guard…

 

Of course the tension in the room was, nearly indescribable.  The studio owners were keeping track of everything that happened, obviously not happy that a code BadGuy ever even was allowed to happen,much less the risk of exposure, and the cost it was taking to clean up after.  They weren't looking to punish though, it wasn't anyone's fault but Iris’s that this happened, at least that's what they thought, and there'd no point in blaming Ralph or any of the others, especially when they’re in mourning over the first loss of a living toon after all.  They all just wanted this to be over with, and it showed. Their questions to the dino were about as dry and clinical as they could be, almost courtroom like in how much they cut away the fat. The interview barely lasted for a half hour before they were wrapping it up. Ralph just couldn’t get something off his mind though…  and as they thanked him for his help and let him be excused, he continued to sit there, trying to organize his thoughts…

 

“Is, there something else?”. one of the executives finally asked after a good minute of the Dino still standing there trying to decide if he should speak out or finish walking out the door.  “y-yeah…. there is…”. Ralph began, a bit timidly. “You guys… I… we all know why we gotta stay secret, stay hidden… this sorta thing is exactly why…. but…. keeping us locked up in here or at our animators houses is the whole reason this happened too…  you guys know that, right?...” Ralph looked up, and saw a bunch of faces turning quietly to look at one another, none of them saying a word. The Dino continued after a brief pause “it’s like we’re in prison. Doesn’t matter how nice of a prison it is, it’s still prison…  Especially cause, well, we were made to entertain… Anyone we can, however we can. The only time in that lounge anyone isn’t dejected and dismal is when we’re watching each other do stuff, like a contest…. about who can-...”. He choked up for a moment before continuing, “about who can squeeze into a drinking glass faster….”. he sighed, wiping away a tear from his eye… his mind wasn’t sure where it was going, or what he was trying to even suggest, but this was something he needed to say.  He was Ursula's friend, and he saw it in her how unfulfilled she felt every day, how deep down on some level, even if they didn’t want to admit it, they all felt this way. She was just the one who was struggling most with her villain self, and thus the one to act on those desires for freedom…

 

His mind continued to wander as the studio heads thought to themselves too, looking among each other.  It was indeed resonating, the idea that their policy of hide the toons at all costs was a lot to blame for this, but they’d tried to think of alternatives for years and couldn’t think of a single better idea.  Integration they thought was too risky, and if they just strolled around in the world eventually folks would start to put the pieces together after a toon gets hit by a car or stabbed and walks away totally unharmed, or is seen drinking ink…  It was then that out of luck, Ralph’s thoughts turned to Ursula's origin movie, then he began to think about his own movie, and a flash of inspiration made his eyes snap open and his slouching posture shoot upright.

 

“I think…  I think I have an idea that might be worth a try…”. The dino said tentatively.  To which the head executive replied, “We’re listening…”

* * *

 

 

The dinosaur stood with a big grin on the middle of the center ring, his arms extended wide as he stared up into the rafters and spun in glorious circles that made his cape twirl about his tail while his hat stayed planted firmly atop his head.  above him soared trapeze artists and wire walkers, all around him were jugglers, clowns, and sword fighters engaged in mock combat. The Dino brought the microphone in his claws to his mouth and exclaimed “WE ARE THE IRIS MEMORIAL CIRCUS! THANK YOU FOR BEING A GREAT AUDIENCE PITTSBURG AND WE’LL SEE YOU AGAIN NEXT YEAR!  GOODNIGHT!” and the lights fell to Black as he clapped his claws together once. The lights returned to reveal every performer on the Ring’s edge, taking their final bows in unison, all in disguise and makeup, and each one of them a free toon. The dinosaur ringmaster lead them out through the backstage curtain to the thunderous applause of the crowd they’d just finished thoroughly entertaining.  They proudly high fived each other and eagerly chattered about their next performance in Philadelphia tomorrow as they one after another squeezed through the door to the “makeup trailer”, itself being a trailer that was cartoon in it’s nature, and as such, was thrice as big on the inside as it was on the outside.

 

“HEY EVERYONE!  THREE CHEERS FOR OUR RINGMASTER!” one of them blurted, making the dinosaur immediately blush and rawr in embarrassment as he hid his big face in his tiny claws and his tail curled around front as best it could while they cheered.  “Guyyyyssss X3". he blushed red and then rawred as he tackle hugged a percentage of the toons, wagging. “Hehehe, just don’t ever forget who any of you guys are… You’re Iris, not Ursula, and we were made to entertain, so enjoy yourselves out there!  You’re free toons!” Ralph proudly spoke, eliciting another cheer from the group as they began to undress to their normal selves, wiping away the drawn on costumes with wet towels and showers, revealing their natural ink, just as the telephone rang.

 

Ralph quickly and happily stomped over to it and picked it up, “How’d the show go?”. Frank bluntly asked without even a hello, as was his style.  “Rawr! Another happy crowd! Nobody suspected a thing!” the Dino replied with a proud wagging. “GOOD! Hehe, I still can’t believe none of us thought of it before, but, yeah, three dozen performances in and you’re right.  All that circus makeup hides your actual character identities perfectly, and even if someone suspected, they would just think it was a licensing deal if you came right out as your characters…”. Frank mused, a smile of relief on his end of the phone as he looked back around at the empty ink lounge back at the studio, save for Benny and one or two other toons who elected to stay behind, at least for this leg of the circus tour, to be ready for the next free toons to arrive.  “Ralph, I know it’s gonna make you blush again, cause it does every time I say it, but, thank you. They really are finally happy out there, able to perform again, instead of being cooped up here all the time.” the rhino spoke, chuckling to himself as he could hear the Dino rawring and squirming gently in embarrassment on the other end of the phone. “rawwwwwrrrr X3…. A-all I did was be the right toon at the right time in front of those studio heads, after all, it was my animators and writer who really came up with the circus idea, I just used it…”.  “Hehehe, yeah maybe you’re right, but still, you’re their hero now, and you take good care of all those guys.” Frank smiled, “I will.” the dinosaur replied with a swish of his tail and a big toothy smile. “Alright, good check in, now I gotta get back to work on this Captain Crab situation, figure out if that walrus is another toon or if there’s something else going on where the new animator snuck his OWN version of the episode onto the air instead or something. Beardless Blub was never supposed to BLEED after all. Anyways, see ya!”. *click*. 

 

Ralph set the phone back down on it’s hook to charge, taking a swig of ink from the coffee pot nearby as he looked out over his people, and felt a small swell of pride at what Ralph said.  Living, breathing toons, enjoying themselves, doing what they were always drawn to do, all of them. They were finally free...

 


End file.
